These guys have been around since 1996 and it is relatively amazing to me that I am only now finding out about them. I would normally blame it on the fact that I live in South East Asia and we are not exposed to such things, but in '96 i was in my "metal-searching" prime and I have no excuse for having not discovered them. The only excuse I can think of is that they were relatively underground until they were signed to a major label in 2012. Also, online music wasn't really a thing (outside of stealing it) until 2005, and at that point I had already left the United States.
Gojira is a French metal band that is difficult to categorize. They are definitely heavy, but they aren't death. At times they sound like djent or "math metal" but other times they have an almost thrash sound to them. They might be their own thing but whatever they are, i dig it.
Their songs tend to focus on real life issues such as environmentalism and everyday problems and unlike some of their death-metal pals in the industry that they tour (and have toured) with, their lyrics are, for the most part, understandable... well, that is a matter of perspective: They are more understandable than say Obituary or Cannibal Corpse, but less understandable than say Metallica.
They are a 4-person band that are kind of lead by brothers Joe and Mario Duplantier although this is just my decision, there is no real leader in the band but according to the track designations, most of the music is written by the brothers although they will admit, there is no ideology or leadership in the group. It appears as though they, unlike many other (most?) bands, they have had the same lineup for 20 years.
During that time they would occasionally land gigs opening up for (at the time) much larger bands than they were such as Immortal, Trivium, and Behemoth. However, it is very arguable that today they have surpassed all of those acts they used to support in terms of widespread popularity.
Their rise to as-mainstream-as-you-can-really-be as an act like theirs all began with their album L'enfant Sauvage which had a few great tracks on it including the one below entitled "Explosia." This track changes "gears" so frequently in terms of rhythm and groove that it almost seems like it is 3 different songs. At the 4-minute mark, they have a near 2-minute, driving instrumental that I absolutely love. Even though it carries on for a long time, I never want it to end.
From the official Roadrunner Records channel
In 2015 they released an album called "Magma" that upon just releasing a tiny bit of it, already had it categorized as one of the "most anticipated albums of the year." It would later go on to be nominated for two Grammy Awards. Not too shabby for a metal band as hard as they are... normally these awards are only offered to Slipknot... or Jethro Tull in the 80's.
Although mostly the song Silvera is recognized as being the standout track on this album and was subsequently nominated for an individual Grammy, I find Stranded (featured below) to be my favorite.
From the official Gojira channel
I am only really discovering this band myself and the more layers i pull away, the more I like what i find inside.
They were originally named "Godzilla" but I am sure you can understand that this invited legal troubles as soon as they started to gain a bit of fame. They changed their name to "Gojira" in 2001 which is funny to me because that also means "Godzilla."
They are exceptionally dedicated to environmentalism and were in the process of recording a benefit album where all the proceeds were going to go to Sea Shepherd (an anti-whaling group that is or at least was classified as a terrorist organization for all the wrong reasons.) Guest stars on this EP included Randy Blythe from Lamb of God and Max Cavalera from Sepultura. The album was never released because a hard drive that contained all the recordings crashed... dammit! They are meant to still release this album at some point in time but since it has been 3 years since the hard drive crashed, perhaps we can assume they are either working on it now, or it isn't really going to happen.
A tremendous band that is very difficult to categorize, Gojira is one of those rare metal bands that has an opportunity to appeal to people outside of their normal expected fan-base. I don't think you need to be a massive metal fan to appreciate their work and as of 2 weeks ago, I believe that Gojira is going to be on heavy rotation in my house at least. Perhaps you will dig it too? What say you 